"Benvenuto, Spencer. Alessa. What are you doing in my kitchen?" My mum enters the kitchen with her hands on her hips and her hair in a bun.
"Hello, Mrs.Capello. We were just starting to bake."

"Excuse me?"

"I'm teaching him how to bake. It's for the stupid Pair Sale."

"Bella di mamma. Are you going to finally use your nonna's recipe?"

"Non ci penso proprio! No one would ever eat lavender."

"They'd eat anything you put near their mouths." Spencer smirks, "Watch out for your hand, Lessy." There he goes again, with that stupid nickname.

"They'll think it's poisoned." She gives me that you-have-no-choice look and I sigh, "Okay." She giggles, "Finally! Everything you need is in the basement, except for the lavender. You know where that is." She skips- skips!- and winks, "I'm off to work, I'll be back by 9. Have fun!"

"I'll go get everything." I tell Spencer- not to be kind, but because he'll probably make a mess out of anything he touches.

"Aww, come on, marshmallow. No need to impress me, I already saw your morning face. And your bed head. Not nice." This boy makes me want to strangle him. Morning face, ha!

"I can get anything I need by myself."

"You sure you won't be scared?" He smirked.

"I won't be scared."

I take the stairs two at a time and grab the tools we need to make cupcakes. Brown cupcake liners, skewers, ice cream scoop, piping tips, piping bags, plunge cutters, and of course, the cupcake pan itself.

"Boo!" Someone suddenly yells and I drop everything, screaming.

"Spencer! What the hell?" I slam my hands onto his chest, pushing him, "You scared me!"

"That's the point, marshmallow." He grins at me, and I instantly forgive him for making me almost pee in my pants. I step back to pick up what I dropped and trip, almost falling, when strong hands wrap themselves around my waist.

"Easy now, cupcake." He whispers, and I feel his hot breath on my ear, making me shiver. Then he suddenly releases me, making me almost trip again. He starts picking up what I dropped, while I stand there.

"Are you just going to watch me? I know I'm too sexy for you, but stare at me and drool all you want later." One day, someone will knock him down a peg or two. If I get to see that, then I, Alessandra Capello, will say "screw you" to my fear of heights and go bungee jumping.

When we finish gathering everything, we head back to the kitchen and put everything on the counter, to check if anything is missing.

"Okay, let's do this."
***
20 mins later
Finally, we finished the prep for the damn cupcakes. I'm surprised that we were able to do anything with Spencer's tickling and distractions. Now we just have to put the tray in the oven and be done.
"Spencer, would you do the honors?" I gave him the mittens and he stared blankly at me.
"Uhh.. What do I do with these?"
"Well, obviously you wear them on your hands." I rolled my eyes, then opened the oven so that he could put the tray inside.
Now all we gotta do is wait.
"Lessy."
I turned around, "Yeah?" Then he was suddenly in my face like he was gonna kiss me. He put his hand under my chin, moving up as he moved closer and closer. Oh, lord, my heart is thumping wildly by now. I'm so nervous I can't even breathe. When our faces were inches away, he suddenly stopped moving, then wiped at the corner of my mouth and licked the batter off of his finger and disappeared with a wide grin on his face.
That tease! I can't believe I thought he would actually kiss me. Wait, no. I can't believe I wanted him to kiss me!
Focus, Alessa. You don't like him, you know you don't. He might be hot, but he's a player. Ugh, why does this have to be complicated? Okay, let's take this one step at a time. For now, we just need to bake the cupcakes.
Running around the kitchen, I look for my phone and urgently open it.
I need to call Ria, she knows how to deal with this stuff.
Ring, ring, ring.
"Hello?"
"Ria!"
"Yeah that's me."
"Ria, help.. It's about Spencer."
"What did that sonofa-"
"Nonono don't worry I'm okay. It's not like that. It's just that.. I'll tell you what happened." I told her of how he teased me by holding my chin, and getting closer to my face, then suddenly disappearing. At the end of the story, she surprised me by laughing.
"Alessa, I don't know what he means by that, but one thing's for sure. We're damn right getting a revenge on him. I'll text you."
"Okay, bye." I said that without even knowing what she meant. Revenge? Like the pranks? Ugh, I'm not going to think anymore. I sat on the couch and turned on the TV, waiting for the cupcakes to be baked. After the time was up, I went to my room after checking on the cupcakes. I laid on my bed and stared at the ceiling until I fell asleep.
***
Ting, ting.
I woke up to a thump, thump outside my room and the sound of someone texting me. I opened my phone, remembering that it was Ria. She said:
Alessa, I got it. Here's what you're gonna do. It'll take some bravery but you can do it.
You're gonna tease Spencer, give him hard-ons ;)
Give him what?? I laughed hysterically at what she sent. How am I supposed to act sexy?

Ria, how the heck do I do that?

I waited until her reply and laughed again.

Girl, I got you. Here's the plan. You're gonna torture him. By wearing miniskirts and innocently ;) bending over

Ria, are you crazy?? You want me to flash Spencer??

Idiot. You're gonna give him a hard-on and leave him with the worst case of blue balls

I don't think I can do that..

You got this girl. For now just wear a lot of shorts around the house

Okay.. I think I can do that

Tell me if anything else happens. Igtg

Bye
After closing my phone, I decided to start right away with the plan. I changed into a pair of shorts and headed downstairs, where I hoped is where the idiot would be.
Bingo.
He was exactly where I expected him to be. I sat on the couch next to him and waited for a chance.
After about twenty minutes of watching tv with him, the chance came- Spencer changed the channel to something that had music playing. It was a Shakira song. I suddenly got up and pushed the coffee table. Then, I slowly started wiggling my hips with my back to Spencer. I ran my hand down my side and back up, sliding through my short hair. I turned around and saw Spencer's shocked expression. At that moment, I suddenly felt embarrassed and ran up to my room, blushing hard. Why did I even agree to this? Ria.. That idiot.
Oh, right! I need to text her and tell her what I just did. I opened my phone and started angrily tapping the keyboard.

Ria I can't believe what I just did! I did a striptease!

I can't believe I did a striptease. And for Spencer, of all people! I'm seriously going crazy today. Just as I was about to lay down, Ria replied.

You did what?! You took your clothes off? You go girl!

Took my clothes off? What is she talking about?

Nonono! I didn't take my clothes off

I typed, blushing again.

Idiot that's what a striptease is. It's when you tease someone and take your clothes off

Oh...

How was it? Did Spencer say anything?

Well not really. I ran away in the middle

Damn it. You danced at least, right?

Yeah

I looked up from my phone and laid on my bed, banging my head against the headboard from embarrassment. Suddenly, I heard someone coming up the stairs, probably Spencer.

Ria I gotta go. Bye

I shut my phone and hid under the blanket, pulling it over my head and praying that Spencer won't see me.

"Hey, Cupcake. You hiding from me?"
My eyes opened wide out of surprise and I tried not to but couldn't help curling up on my bed. I heard footsteps and shut my eyes tight. What is he going to do?
The footsteps stopped and suddenly, the blanket was snatched from me. I looked up into Spencer's bright green eyes as he grabbed my hands and secured them next to my head. He straddled my legs and lowered his face closer to mine, until-again- our faces were inches apart. I closed my eyes and felt myself blush and my heart beating wildly.
Thump, thump, thump.
What is he doing?
Suddenly, he got up and released my hands, "You fall for it every time. Aww, I guess you really want to kiss me." He grinned in his charmingly idiotic way and walked out of my bedroom. I resisted the urge to throw my pillow on him and used it to cover my blushing face instead.
Oh hell no, now you've done it. Just wait and see, Cupcake.